ENGINEERING giant Jacobs Gibb is at the centre of an alleged bribery scandal that could to rock the foundations of £5.65 billion project in Lesotho.

ENGINEERING giant Jacobs Gibb is at the centre of an alleged bribery scandal that could to rock the foundations of £5.65 billion project in Lesotho.

The Reading-based group, known as Alexander Gibb and Partners before an American buyout, has been accused with three other UK companies of bribing officials to win contracts on a massive infrastructure project. If found guilty Gibb could find itself wiped off the books of project funder the World Bank, losing its accreditation with the financial institution.

The trial is seen as a landmark corruption case with African officials targeting western companies instead of individual officials.

Defeat would seriously damage the reputation of the companies involved and cost millions in lost contracts.

Under the project Lesotho, a nation encircled by South Africa, will see six massive dams built, providing the minnow nation with electricity and South African water.

With the development come roads, bridges and a power station, making it the largest feat of civil engineering ever undertaken in the continent.

But the Lesotho government has accused up to 12 companies of “wrongfully, unlawfully and corruptly” making payments through middlemen to Musopa Sole while he was head of the Lesotho Highlands Development Agency.

Mr Sole, Sir Alexander Gibb and Partners, Balfour Beatty, Keir International and Stirling International in the UK are fiercely contesting the allegations.

Chief executive of Sutton Business Park-based Jacobs Gibb Peter Brettell is refusing to comment on the case.

But lawyers for the western companies have managed to get the trial delayed until December.